In the field of steelmaking, an electric furnace charge is typically made from scrap metal, carbon and fluxes such as lime and/or dolime, all in pieces having a minimum size of 0.5 inch (about 12.7 mm).
It is known to add specific materials to a furnace charge in the form of briquettes. However, carbon, which is an essential part of the mixture of materials, is quite slippery in its powdered or comminuted form. Consequently, carbon is typically employed in a non-pulverized state, for example as metallurgical coke. It would be of advantage to be able to utilize carbon “fines”, for example those recovered from a dust collector, and to recycle such fines in their powdered or dust state. A further problem relates to the density of carbon, which is quite low compared generally to the metals. For example, when carbon is added to the furnace via a charge bucket, it will tend to float on top of the liquid metal, thus decreasing the yield of carbon in solution in the steel.
It would also be of advantage to improve the quality of the slag through the addition of a briquette.
It is an object at least to provide a novel composite briquette for a steelmaking or ironmaking furnace charge.